Measurement of Fracture Properties for Ferritic Steel in High-Pressure Hydrogen Gas Available to Purchase

Recently, the measurement of threshold stress intensity factors for various low alloy ferritic steels in high-pressure hydrogen gas of 103 MPa was performed, and it was revealed that the subcritical cracking threshold under rising displacement was lower than the subcritical cracking threshold for crack arrest under constant displacement. These experimental results demonstrate the importance of the testing method for evaluating the fracture properties in high-pressure hydrogen gas. We measured the subcritical cracking threshold under rising displacement for ASME SA-372 Grade J ferritic steels in high-pressure hydrogen gas at pressure up to 115MPa. In contrast to other reported procedures where the applied displacement was increased continuously, in this study crack length was determined using an unloading elastic compliance method. The values of the subcritical cracking threshold measured by the unloading elastic compliance method are consistent with previous measurements in which the applied displacement continuously increased. These results suggest the possibility that subcritical cracking thresholds do not depend on the applied displacement path, i.e., periodic unloading vs. continuously rising displacement.